The present application relates generally to an improved data processing apparatus and method and more specifically to mechanisms for progressively extending conversation scope in a multi-user messaging platform.
Online chat may refer to any kind of communication over the Internet that offers a real-time transmission of text messages from sender to receiver. Chat messages are generally short in order to enable other participants to respond quickly. Thereby, a feeling similar to a spoken conversation is created, which distinguishes chatting from other text-based online communication forms such as Internet forums and email. Online chat may address point-to-point communications as well as multicast communications from one sender to many receivers and voice and video chat, or may be a feature of a web conferencing service. Online chat in a less stringent definition may be primarily any direct text-based or video-based, one-on-one chat or one-to-many or many-to-many group chat (also known as chat room or channel), using tools such as instant messengers, Internet Relay Chat (IRC), talkers, and possibly multi-user dungeons (MUDs).
The term chat room, or chatroom, is primarily used to describe any form of synchronous conferencing, occasionally even asynchronous conferencing. The term can thus mean any technology ranging from real-time online chat and online interaction with strangers (e.g., online forums) to fully immersive graphical social environments. The primary use of a chat room is to share information via text with a group of other users. Generally speaking, the ability to converse with multiple people in the same conversation differentiates chat rooms from instant messaging programs, which are more typically designed for one-to-one communication. The users in a particular chat room are generally connected via a shared internet or other similar connection, and chat rooms exist catering for a wide range of subjects.
Collaborative software or groupware is application software designed to help people involved in a common task to achieve their goals. In terms of the level of interaction it allows, collaborative software may be divided into: real-time collaborative editing (RTCE) platforms that allow multiple users to engage in live, simultaneous, and reversible editing of a single file (usually a document), and version control (also known as revision control and source control) platforms, which allow separate users to make parallel edits to a file, while preserving every saved edit by every user as multiple files that are variants of the original file. Collaborative software is a broad concept that overlaps considerably with computer-supported cooperative work (CSCW). Software products such as email, calendaring, text chat, wiki, and bookmarking belong to this category whenever used for group work, whereas the more general term social software applies to systems used outside the workplace. The use of collaborative software in the work space creates a collaborative working environment (CWE).
A chatbot (also known as a talkbot, chatterbot, bot, IM bot, interactive agent, or Artificial Conversational Entity) is a computer program that conducts a conversation via auditory or textual methods. Such programs are often designed to convincingly simulate how a human would behave as a conversational partner, thereby passing the Turing test. Bots are typically used in dialog systems for various practical purposes including customer service or information acquisition. Some bots use sophisticated natural language processing systems, but many simpler systems scan for keywords within the input, then pull a reply with the most matching keywords, or the most similar wording pattern, from a database.